


Devil In The Details, Love In The Little Things

by PaleNoFace



Series: Smeet Army AU [2]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blankets, Developing Relationship, Dib Has Issues (Invader Zim), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eye Trauma, Forehead Kisses, Hugs, Hurt Dib (Invader Zim), Idiots in Love, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Older Dib (Invader Zim), POV Dib (Invader Zim), Pre Smeet Army Era, Sleepy Cuddles, Tall Zim (Invader Zim), Zim Also Has Issues (Invader Zim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23078821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleNoFace/pseuds/PaleNoFace
Summary: Dib is peacefully falling asleep, tilting over the very edge of consciousness, when his bedroom's window slides open.Eyes closed, he lifts an arm and holds the comforter up - more a reflex than an actual, deliberate action - and waits for the now usual presence to slip next to him. Zim, after a second of hesitation, joins him under the covers.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Smeet Army AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658659
Comments: 14
Kudos: 207





	Devil In The Details, Love In The Little Things

**Author's Note:**

> Featuring Zim breaking and entering, Gaz throwing things at walls and Dib being a slut for Mothman.

Dib is peacefully falling asleep, tilting over the very edge of consciousness, when his bedroom's window slides open.

Eyes closed, he lifts an arm and holds the comforter up - more a reflex than an actual, deliberate action - and waits for the now usual presence to slip next to him. Zim, after a second of hesitation, joins him under the covers.

It's like a whole other world when the night falls, Dib thinks as he turns the two of them into a fleece cocoon, when he's too exhausted to respond to violence by more violence and Zim doesn't quite know how to act, and so becomes soft and pliant under his nemesis' fingers, it's like something shifts in the universe's balance. Dib's not sure he likes it better than their usual daylight banter, with every fight and scar and near-death experience it entails, but it's a new dynamic he thinks he's starting to get used to.

"And GIR ?" he asks, slurring from the late hour.

He feels Zim shrug against him.

"Probably eating a cat somewhere. Who cares. Scoot over."

They wiggle about for a minute, slotting together in that specific way of theirs, and then it's quiet again. Quiet, but tense.

"Wassup ?" Dib mumbles, voice muffled by the pillow he's trying to fuse with.

"The sky," comes the dry answer.

A beat.

"Don't be a smartass," he snorts when his tired brain finally processes the joke, eyelids still stubbornly closed. "Tell me."

Zim stays quiet for a long time, so long in fact Dib's starting to believe everything he's been told about Irkens' physiological needs is a load of bullcrap and that the alien just fell asleep.

But then, he hears the distinctive whirling and clicking of a PAK in full activity.

Zim is thinking.

"It's not working," the Invader says finally. "The experiments are a failure, the calculations are all wrong, the most advanced embryos died after the second week-"

A sigh, and Zim cuts himself to snuggle closer to Dib's chest, clearly sulking. Dib runs a comforting hand down his arm, then up his back, ghosting over the heating PAK.

"'T's'okay," he mumbles thickly. "Armies aren't built in one day."

"It's been months."

"We're doing this from scratch."

Another silence, and then Dib feels a clawed thumb brush against the left side of his face, the side that he's been trying to hide in his pillow. The touch is too careful, too gentle coming from the weapon of mass destruction that is Zim, and it makes something twist in Dib's guts. Zim doesn't say anything, but he can feel his ruby gaze on him, assessing the damage. His fingertip digs just a little too deep in the eye socket, encounters no resistance - and this, more than anything, is what makes Dib recoil with a growl.

"Sorry," the alien says immediately, his hand hovering awkwardly in the air.

"Just-- don't poke at it."

"I will fix this," he insists, pressing. "Eventually. I just need to understand how human optic nerves work first. Then it'll be like nothing happened."

A hum of acknowledgement. The three fingered hand falls back on the mattress with a little bounce. Dib, now wide awake, stares right back into the swirling red galaxies.

"Stop that," he says, and earns a glare in return.

"Zim isn't doing anything, stinky."

"You're thinking too hard," Dib frowns at him. "I can hear you."

" _Lies_ ," the Irken hisses under his breath. "Zim would know if you were capable of such a thing."

There is a touch of doubt in his tone, as if Dib really could have managed to hide psychic powers from him all this time. As if Dib could hide _anything_ from him.

"Relax," he tells Zim. "The experiment... We'll look into it tomorrow. Maybe we miscalculated the effect of Earth's pressure on a smeet's skeleton. Or something."

"We didn't," Zim scoffs, "It's because of-"

He shuts his mouth before he can develops that thought, teeth grinding menacingly. Dib presses his lips on the green forehead, humming quietly against warm skin.

"Talk to me," he whispers, and Zim makes a visible effort to unclench his muscles and relax in his arms.

"...I am defective. It has to be altering the quality of the DNA samples somehow."

"I don't think that's a thing," the young Membrane comments after a second.

"But maybe it is."

"Zim..."

"Maybe I'm the reason why the cloning isn't working."

"Zim."

"Maybe I'm-"

" _Zim_."

Dib grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him vigorously to pull him out of his panicky thoughts, which is rather awkward considering they're both still laying on their sides in a fleece cocoon. The Irken lets out an undignified squawk and lashes at the offending hands. A room over, Gaz cusses loudly and throws something heavy at their shared wall.

"If this plan doesn't work out, we still have other options. I've seen you do so much damage with so much less," Dib comments once they both stop shushing each-other in fear of something hurled directly at them _through the wall_.

Zim winces, then hides his face in Dib's shirt.

"We need more than common chaos to bring down the Massive."

"Maybe we could fix the mind-controlling crowns and use these."

Zim arches a non-existent eyebrow.

"In case your humongous head somehow forgot this, you made me swear on GIR not to harm any human."

Dib grimaces and rolls on his back.

"I might be reconsidering it."

"Who are you and what did you do with my Dib-beast ?"

"I'm just saying. To overthrow the Tallest, maybe we should... Y'know. Bury them under the Earth's entire population. That's a lot of people for just two Irkens to deal with, Zim."

"Two Irkens who aren't the head of the most deadly Armada in the entire universe for nothing," Zim scoffs.

"...You did kill two Tallest before."

" _Not on purpose_ ," he hisses again, smacking an antenna in the human's face.

They fall silent, peering into each-other's eyes - or eye, as far as Dib is concerned.

"We can't fail this," Zim whispers, low enough that, if they weren't so close, Dib would have completely missed it. "If we attack the Massive, and we fail, we won't have a second shot."

Something clicks in Dib's mind.

He knows the Tallest won't bother to destroy Earth, even if Zim makes it clear it became his homebase and is ready to fight for it. This is not about that. It's not even about power. It's about vengeance, and payback, and self-worth. It's about how it's the last thing keeping Zim standing. The idea of annihilating the very Empire that betrayed him in the most painful ways, again and again. 

There is only so much Dib can do to keep the Invader from spiraling into another depressive episode, one he might not get back from.

"Let's go to the space station tomorrow," he says, and the alien mumbles in agreement against his collarbone. "Maybe we can hack a satellite to-"

"If you say _to get satellite pictures of Mothman_ , I'm leaving."

Dib closes his mouth with a snap. Zim quietly laughs.

"You monkey-brained idiot," he chuckles, "So predictable."

"Shut up."

"You're such a slut for Mothman."

"Zim, _oh my God_."

"Look at me in the face and tell me it isn't true."

"Just because it's true doesn't mean you should say it."

"I'm sorry I can't be him, Dib-darling."

"You're an idiot."

Zim flushes himself against his front, smug mockery so evident that Dib doesn't even need to see his face. He doesn't know if he wants to kiss him or strangle him.

  
Time passes. The sky outside turns a paler shade of blue, just shy from complete dark. The loud PAK stopped whiring at some point. He's not sure when. He's not sure he cares, either. Zim has his eyes closed, his breathing deep and slow in the meditating state that replaces his sleep cycle.

Dib, knowing things will be okay for a few hours, finally allows himself to slip into slumber.


End file.
